Back to SearchKingston - An illness in a person who recently travelled to South Asia is in fact a case of measles, Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health has confirmed. The agency worked closely with local physicians and with Public Health Ontario Laboratory to identify and to confirm the case. Measles is common in the part of the world that the patient visited, and poses a risk both to travellers to that area and to local residents when a case is imported on return to Canada.
“Being up-to-date with all routine immunisations, especially measles, is the easiest and most effective way to ensure that one does not contract a serious infectious disease while travelling, and to ensure that one is protected if by bad luck one is exposed to a returning traveller who is ill”, said Dr. Ian Gemmill, Medical Officer of Health for Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health. “Routine immunisation, including measles vaccine, is free of charge for all residents, and having a case imported to our area is a strong reminder to make sure that we all have taken advantage of this safe and effective way of protecting ourselves when a case of measles turns up in this community”.
Measles is a serious infection that causes fever, cough, runny nose, inflammation of the eyes, and an itchy rash that covers most of the body. Complications include pneumonia, middle ear infections, and inflammation of the brain that can cause life-long disability. Before the advent of a vaccine for measles, most children had this disease. The vaccine has made this illness and its serious complications a rarity in Canada.
“This case is a reminder that these serious infections are still common in many less privileged parts of the world, and that they can pose risk to our community, even when they are no longer common here”, emphasised Dr. Gemmill. “It is a reminder for everyone, especially those travelling to areas where measles is common, to get their vaccines”.
Children over the age of one, adolescents, health care workers, students attending post-secondary educational institutions, and military personnel all should have had two doses of measles vaccine for adequate protection. Older adults should have a minimum of one dose, and those born before 1970 are assumed to be protected because of the high level of measles in Canada before that date. Persons who are not up-to-date are asked to contact their family physicians to receive this vaccine.
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health, in collaboration with its partners, has completed follow-up of the case, provided measles vaccine to all known contacts whose immunisation was not up-to-date, and is monitoring to ensure that secondary cases that are linked to the original case are identified promptly. The case was not infectious while in transit back to Canada.
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